November 23, 1923,

Remarks by the President to the Newspaper Men

An inquiry as to whether a l i e n s w i l l be admitted at New York i n excess of

I national quotas, and whether any arrangements have been made f o r such purpose. No

j general arrangements about i t . A permanent lawyer came to see me yesterday about a

| boatload, I think, of some seven hundred that wanted to come i n . Some are quite

1 distressing cases. I took the matter up with the Labor Department and they t e l l me

Ithat i n a case of that kind they t r y to take care of a l l cases of d i s t r e s s - those

that you might c a l l worthy cases; but when they are able bodied men or people that don't

itemtxx appeal i n any way to the sympathy or charitable i n s t i n c t s , why they have to be

returned.

Here i s an announcement that advices have iust been received from Germany

I stating that the Reichstag has f a i l e d to give Streseman a vote of confidence, and that

j Streseman and h i s e n t i r e Cabinet have q u i t , l e a v i n g the government i n a complete state

jof collapse. I haven't any o f f i c i a l information about that. I should imagine that

if that was the case, that a new government would be formed the same as i n any other

I country. Of course our own country, and a l l the other countries of the c i v i l i z e d

world would view a collapse of Germany with a great deal of concern.

An i n q u i r y about the Sterling-Talbot b i l l . I haven't any exact information

i about that. I know about i t i n a general way. I never came to any f i n a l conclusion

about i t .

An i n q u i r y about the proposed reorganization of the Executive Departments

and whether the administration favors a single Department of Education, or a Department

of Education and P u b l i c Welfare. The plan contemplates a Department of Education and

Public Welfare. The public welfare has to do with the prisoners. I t also includes the

Veterans Bureau, and quite a number of a c t i v i t i e s of that kind.

Mr. President, i s that the name of the Department, as you express i t ?

Yes. Education and Welfare.

An inquiry about the proposed plan of Representative Madden.for a s o l u t i o n

of the Muscle Shoals problem. Mr. Madden has consulted me about i t once or twice, and

it is my understanding that he and I are working i n harmony on i t . I t i s very im-

portand that our country should secure the opportunity to produce n i t r a t e s , at a low

price, both on account of t h e i r need f o r nation al defense and e s p e c i a l l y on account

of their need i n a g r i c u l t u r e . And i f that can be worked out at Muscle Shaoss, i t w i l l

be a matter of the very greatest importance from both of those angles. We are t r y -

ing to see i f that i s not possible. I think the present p r i c e at which n i t r a t e s

are imported, most of them I believe are Chilean n i t r a t e s , i s considerably lower than

nitrate can be produced from power, either steam or water power. Now that means there

would have to be a considerable amount of experimentation i n order to be able to

produce cheap n i t r a t e s . I t would require a considerable c a p i t a l outlay probably to

have that worked out.

An inquiry also about my i n t e n t i o n to v i s i t Columbus, Ohio, to confer w i t h

friends of President Harding. I haven't any such plan at the present time. Very

lively that may r e f e r to some work that i s being done out there by the Harding

Memorial Association.

No l e t t e r s have come to me, so f a r as I have noticed, from the a g r i c u l t u r a l

papers r e l a t i v e to taxation.

An inquiry about a proposalfor the A l i e n Property Custodian to use the

$187,000,000 now on deposit with the Treasury as a fund f o r the r e v i v a l of trade

between the United States, Germany and other Central European states. So f a r as I

know that doesn't seem very f e a s i b l e . The only thing we could accomplish by that

would be through the use of c r e d i t or c a p i t a l , and I don't know that the Government

ought to use credit and c a p i t a l i n that way i n competition with our f i n a n c i a l

institutions. I should want to think that over before approving i t , and so f a r as

I know cr e d i t i s not sought for i n foreign trade at the present time. I may be

mistaken about i t , but that i s my impression, which I have gained from t a l k i n g with

Mr. Meyer of the War Finance Corporation. He has passed two or three months abroad

for the express purpose of seeing whether the War Finance Corporation could help

finance exports, e s p e c i a l l y of a g r i c u l t u r a l products, and he wasn't able to work up

any business i n that way.

An inquiry about extending the coastwise laws to the P h i l i p p i n e s . I haven't

any present in t e n t i on of doing that. Something might come up i n the future that

would make i t seem desirable, but according to my understanding there are very grave

doubts as to i t s propriety, i n the State Department. I had at one time a very long

report about i t . I didn't examine the report i n great d e t a i l , so I am not able to

give the d e t a i l s of i t , but the conclusion was that i t was of very doubtful

propriety, on account of i t s apparent v i o l a t i o n of t r e a t i e s we had with other

countries •

no 115

An inquiry also about my message. I want to reserve the r i g h t to

discuss a l l subjects i n my message. I f you w i l l j u s t keep that i n mind, i t w i l l

help you for the next ten days.

An inquiry as to how f a r i n advance my message w i l l be delivered to the

press. I am sure that i t w i l l be four or f i v e days i n advance of i t s d e l i v e r y ,

perhaps s i x or seven.

An inquiry about the v i s i t of Senator Cummins. He came i n to t a l k about

railroad l e g i s l a t i o n . He i s , as you know, at work preparing a b i l l . We are t r y -

ing to see whether i t w i l l be possible f o r us to agree. I have no doubt that i t

will .

i f " Can you give us any idea as to the approximate length of your message at

this time, Mr. President?

4~ I am t r y i n g to make i t as short as I can. I am glad you asked me about

that. I t w i l l be i n the nature of recommendations f o r l e g i s l a t i o n , e x p l i c i t recom-

mendations, rather than long arguments and d i s p o s i t i o n s on subjects. Very l i k e l y

my recommendations may be sound enough, but some people might question my reasons.

I am not t r y i n g to l i m i t the e d i t o r i a l w r i t e r s .

Have you decided yet to go up i n person?

I am not c e r t a i n about that.

An inquiry about a telegram from the Carded Woolen Manufacturing Ass'n.

of Boston f o r r e l i e f of what they consider unjust rates on wool and mohair i n the

present t a r i f f law. That telegram, I think, has been referre d to the T a r i f f Com-

mission i n order that they might advise me what actio n should be taken. But t h i s

general acti on i s taken on a l l complaints that come on suggestions about changes i n

the schedule. They are referred to the T a r i f f Commission, investigated c a r e f u l l y ,

and anything that on i n v e s t i g a t i o n shows that i t i s worthy of the tec h n i c al i n -

vestigation, which means the g i v i n g of p u b l i c notice and so on, w i l l be considered

in that v/ay. I t doesn't make any difference what schedule i t may r e l a t e to. What-

ever may be necessary i n the way of changes under the f l e x i b l e provisions of the

ta r i f f law w i l l be considered and put into e f f e c t . That doesn't mean that we want

to rewrite the t a r i f f every day, but i t has been i n effect f o r a couple of years,

things are more or less s e t t l e d , and i n the course of time i t requires i n v e s t i g a t i o n

and i t can be changed, i f necessary.

An inquiry about a b u i l d i n g program f o r post o f f i c e s . I don't want to

approve at th i s time any general b u i l d i n g program. As I suggested to you some time

ago, there i s probably a necessity f o r the beginning of a b u i l d i n g program of

public buildings here i n Washington, but f o r a general b u i l d i n g program, I am not

prepared at the present time.

An inquiry about Ambassadors Harvey and C h i l d . Ambassador Harvey, of

course, w i l l r e t i r e whenever h i s successor i s appointed, confirmed, and q u a l i f i e d ;

and Ambassador C h i l d I don't think has any plan about r e t i r i n g . He expects to

return and remain i n d e f i n i t e l y . I do understand i n a general way that he wants to

retire before very long. But t h i s i s e n t i r e l y i n d e f i n i t e .

Ho recommendations have been received from the Department of J u s t i c e

relative to a pardon f o r Comptroller Craig of New York.

I have already referred to the conference with Senator Cummins.

I have already t o l d you when I thought my message would be ready f o r the

press. This brings me back to where I began.

Mr. President, can you t e l l us anything about the Cabinet?

*T~ The Cabinet meeting was very short t h i s morning, and aboutall that we

took up was immigration questions. I am very glad you spoke to me about that be-

cause I was asked yesterday, or rather I inquired of a lawyer that was here, who

told me that people came to America^ on boats with passports, and when they got

the passports thought, of course, that gave them the ri g h t of entry. I s a i d that

was a matter that ought to be remedied i f i t were so. I inquired of the State

Department t h i s morning, and they say every i n d i v i d u a l that gets a passport signs

a statement that he or she understands that i t does not i n any way e n t i t l e them to

entrance into any port of our country. The passport i s merely a statement by the

State Department that, so f a r as the State Department i s concerned, they have no

objection to the entrance of that person. I t doesn't have any j u r i s d i c t i o n over

the Labor Department, nor, of course, over our immigration laws. They do sign,

in every case where a passport i s granted, a statement that they understand that,

and know the si g n i f i c a n c e of i t . I t i s explained to them as c a r e f u l l y as i t can be.

But many times people come with passports that have been issued i n South A f r i c a ,

and so on, London or P a r i s , and i t i s n ' t possible f o r a l l of these d i f f e r e n t c l i e n t s

to keep i n touch with each other and know just what the quota may be for any s p e c i f i c

country at any s p e c i f i c time. So that some of the countries of Europe, who have

nationals that are spread a l l over the world and come backto Europe with t h e i r

passports, and. s a i l from there to here, are subject to that condition without any

blame attaching to the d i f f e r e n t consuls that issue the passports.

Mr. President, about Muscle Shoals, would i t be possible f o r the Govern-

or merit to run i t at a p r o f i t i n case i t has to operate i t ?

I don't know.4~Most everything we do operate we operate at a l o s s . I t

very l i k e l y be operated at a l o s s , as we are now doing. The f i x a t i o n of

nitrates and securing of them i n large quantities i s a matter of such p u b l i c

importance that the Government would be j u s t i f i e d i n doing work of that kind the

same as i t i s j u s t i f i e d i n b u i l d i n g a highway or paying out money f o r r e f o r e s t a -

tion, or opening up ra i l r o a d s and harbors, because i t i s a matter of very great

public importance.

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